Answer: D) Because these islands separated from Africa millions of years ago, many small animals became isolated and evolved separately there. Several plants found on the islands are also unique.
Step-by-step explanation:
Lets break down the topic sentence:
The flora and fauna of the Madagascar Islands have little in common with those of the nearby African continent.
- Flora refers to the plants within a region.
- Fauna refers to the animals within a region.
- Also the topic sentence is comparing two places: Madagascar Islands and a nearby African Continent.
- Lastly, it mentions how between the comparison, the two regions' animals and plants have little in common, so they are different.
Next lets look through the answer choices to see if it develops the topic sentence, by expanding on the topic.
A) Madagascan natives are of either African or Indonesian descent. Both groups have lived on the island for many centuries.
- Answer choice, A, is incorrect. The topic sentence doesn't mention natives or talk about the descent of Madagascan or African people. Since it has no correlation to the topic sentence, it is incorrect.
B) Malagasy, a language closely related to Indonesian, and French are the two official languages spoken in Madagascar. France controlled Madagascar for nearly seventy years.
- Answer choice, B, is incorrect. The topic sentence doesn't mention anything about language, showing that this answer choice also has no correlation to the topic sentence.
C) The world's fourth largest island, Madagascar is actually an African country made up of one large island and many tiny islands. The country is about twice the size of Arizona.
- Answer choice, C, is incorrect. Although it did expand on the two regions, it didn't mention about the animals and plants within the region or how they were completely different.
D) Because these islands separated from Africa millions of years ago, many small animals became isolated and evolved separately there. Several plants found on the islands are also unique.
- Answer choice, D, is correct. It clearly expands on the topic sentence, mentioning that animals and plants within the two region were different (hence saying they became isolate and evolved separately).